Ernest Claes

Ernest Claes, in full Ernest André Jozef Claes, (born Oct. 24, 1885, Zichem, Belg.—died Sept. 2, 1968, Ukkel), popular Flemish novelist and short-story writer who made his mark with De Witte (1920; Whitey), a regional novel about a playful, prankish youngster. The partly autobiographical tale was made into a film in 1934 and again in 1980.

Claes treated several subjects. Animals and children were the subject of such works as Floere het fluwijn (1950; “Floere the Polecat”) and Jeugd (1940; “Youth”), and World War I was the topic of Namen 1914 (1916). His other books describe village life and rustic people. Although he was usually kind, his tone was occasionally judgmental, as in De vulgaire geschiedenis van Charelke Dop (1924; “The Ignoble History of Charelke Dop”), a bitter and cutting tale of a war profiteer, and Clementine (1940), the story of a dishonest servant girl.